Are you searching for the best single provider for your complete insurance needs?
By writerd. Filed in Uncategorized |
Insurance is available for almost everything these days and the internet has created a highly transparent and competitive market place for insurance providers. Some insurance is required by law such as car insurance or medical insurance in some countries. Other insurance although not legally required is seen by most as a ‘must have’ such as travel insurance or insurance for a person’s business interests or property belonging to their business. Then there is a third class of insurance aimed mainly at consumers that is highly specialised such as pet insurance, wedding insurance or Insurance for adventure holidays or extreme sports. On the high street or online, companies set their policy prices and excesses at varying rates according to many different variables. There is also a secondary market for customers to buy the services of insurance borkers who act as agents buying products at the behest of their consumer or corporate clients. Another service offered primarily through agents is underwriting.
This is where the risks of any given insurance venture are calculated and the underwriter decides what the insurer should charge for their services or whether or not insurance should be offered at all. An example from car insurance would be to assess in detail the driving history of the customer. Another example might be medical insurance where the patients sickness record is examined. The internet certainly helps the insurance marke remain competitive and transparent but some customers are even now finding themselves uninsured in times of emergency. A good example of this is winter sports insurance. It is reported that more than half of holidaymakers to winter skiing destinations are uninsured and although the other half do, less than a quarter of them are actually covered for skiing and snowboarding which are classified by many providers as ‘extreme sports’ and not included in their basic cover. In the main, European travellers also think that their E111 is adequate to get them treatment but this is not the case at most resorts. A very recent example of The adaptation of the insurance sector is the hot pricing competition between rival auto insurance companies that has been in the main facilitated by the introduction of price comparison sites. We have to buy car insurance as a matter of law so everyone must purchase it. This causes pricing to be the chief competitive factor.
A recent example of a failure in the insurance market was when payment protection insurance policies (PPI’s) were uncovered by the FSA to be completely worthless or having been fraudulently marketed. This has caused a storm of litigation from customers and firms being created for the single purpose of acting as agents by which customers can claim back any PPI that is covered by the FSA’s investigations. Compare insurance on the web for the greatest deal. Another questionable product is identity theft insurance that promises to refund the subject for losses on account of cyber fraud or identity theft. However most customers do not realise that the bank is more than likely liable for such acts.